Signal and indicator fob record



Original Filed Feb. 26, 1940 Ressued Mar. 18, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT- or-Flca SIGNAL AND INDICATGB FOB RECORD SHEETS Arthur l. Appleton, Northbrook, lll.

Original No. 2,210,748,1lated August 6, 1940, Serial No. 320.831. February 26. 1940. Application ior reissue December "l, 1940, Serial No. 369,140

7Clalms.

A well 'known system for keeping records of stocks of goods on hand includes with each record sheet an indicator which shows at a glance how much stock is on hand, in the terms of the number of weeks or other time units required for its consumption; thus providing a ready means for warning the person in charge of keeping up stocks when-it is time to order an additional supply. In a large business, where there 0 may be many diilerent items in stock. the time required for nlling an order after the placing of the latter may vary greatly. Therefore. the mere fact that the indicator may show that there remains on hand a supply long enough to last a certain number of weeks or months is not, of itself, sumcient to fix the time when a re-o'rder of a given article should be made.

The object of the present invention is to im. prove the aforesaid indicating means so that in addition to keeping the person in charge informed of the state of the stock with respect to each individual item, it also gives a denlte S18- nal when the time has come for re-ordering, regardless of whether it takes a few weeks or perhaps many months to have the order filled.

A further object of the present invention is to improve the old indicating means without making any radical changes in the main structural features whereby it will remain to all intents and purposes substantially the saine as the old device while acting as an indicator of quantities of various items in stock or on hand.

For one reason or another it may be undesirable to re-order a great many different items at about the same time instead of spreading the reorders over a period of some length. A further object of the present invention is to provide means to indicate at any given moment the relation in time of dates when re-orders of all items should be made whereby. if it should happen that an objectionably large number of reorders fall on the same date, some oi' those reorders could be made somewhat earlier and others somewhat later than would normally be the case, and thus secure a distribution of those re-orders.

The various features of novelty whereby my invention is characterized will hereinafter be pointed out with particularity in the claims; but,

for a full understanding oi my invention and of its objects and advantages, reference may be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, whereim' Figure i is a plan view, a fragment of the top leaf or cover being partly broken away, of a connected group or records or sheet holders, each equipped with one of my improved indicator and signal devices;

Fig. 2 is a 'plan view of one of the movable 5 slides forming part of the indicator and signal devices;l

Fig. 3 is a plan view, on a somewhat larger scale, of a fragment of the marginal portion of one of the holders, showing the warning marking 10 thereon: and

Fig, 4 is a section, on an enlarged scale, on line l--I of Fig. 1, the lower marginal portion of only the uppermost sheet holder being shown.

In the drawing there is illustrated a group 15 of leaves or holders for record sheets forming part of a record-keeping and filing system which is being used quite generally and. for the sake of brevity, the 'detailed description will be conilned to this particular use of the present in- 20 vention.

Referring to the drawing, I. 2, 3. I and 5 represent ve flat backs or holders for record sheets, such as indicated at B. These backs or holders overlie each other so that the lower ends thereof 25 are disposed in shingle-like formation, whereby a narrow marginal portion of each is exposed. In the commercial form of the device, the back or holder has attached thereto, over the entire marginal portion along the lower edge. a strip 3o of tough paper 1 folded alongrthe longitudinal center so as to provide in the loop at the lower end thereof a pocket in which a slide 8 may be positioned. The outer side of this folded portion is cut away for one-half of its length, namely 35 the righthand half, as viewed in Fig. 1. Therefore, when a slide, such as indicated at B, composed of a long narrow strip of Celluloid or the like and having at one end a laterally-projecting finger piece 9 and of a length slightly greater 40 than one-half the width of a holder, is inserted in a pocket, the slide may be pushed into the pocket lmtil only a small section thereof. at one end protrudes. 'Ihe lower marginal portion of each holder is bound by means of a U-shaped 45 strip i3 of transparent Celluloid or other suitable material. v

On the part 1 of the holder, directly behind the slide. is a row It of numbers distributed across almost one-half of the entire width of the holder. 50 As in the case of the devices now in commercial use. the vertical edge at the exposed end of the slide, which continues up to the top of the finger piece, serves as a pointer to cooperate with the row of numbers and may, for example, indicate 55 the quantity oi' stock of any particular article that is on hand, measured by thenumber oi' weeks which will be required for the consumption of such stock. Thus, i'or example, theslide on the holder 5 may indicate that there is a four weeks supply, of a given article, on hand; the slide on the holder l may show the presence oi a six weeks supply of another article. etc.

In accordance with the present invention, I place on the front face of the rear fold of the strip 1 slightly in advance of each row of nurnbers a warning marking which may conveniently be alittle red disk I I. Each slide is provided with a hole I2 which, in one position oi' the slide, registers with the red disk which therefore serves as a warning. While the slides may be composed` of opaque material, they usually are made of\ senil-transparent Celluloid. In the drawing the slides are marked or shaded to indicate that they are green. Consequently, except when the hole i2 registers with the red disk, the latter is covered and, in the particular embodiment illustrated, appears simply as a dark spot, as in the case of the lowermost slide and the third slide from the bottom in Fig. l.

The hole in each slide is spaced just far enough away. from the end of the slide that constitutes the pointer to register with the red spot when the pointer registers with that number which indicates the lowest point to which the stock of a given article should reach before re-ordering. Thus, the upper of the ve slides illustrated points to the number 4, the second slide points to the number 6, and the third slide points to the number 9, meaning that the article which is recorded on the holder I must be re-ordered when the quantity drops down to a four weeks supply; that a re-order must be made of the article recorded on the holder l, when the quantity o! that article drops to a six weeks' supply; and that the article recorded on the sheet in holder l must be re-ordered when there is onLv a nine weeks supply left.

It will thus be seen that the slides may be set from time to time to indicate thequantitiesjof various materials that remain in stock and, when it becomes necessary to replenish the stock of any given article, provides unmistakable warning. By providing sets of slides all diilering from each other as to the distance of the holes therein from their pointer ends, it is possible not only initially to provide each group of record holders with slides to give the proper warning in the case of each article, regardless of the diiIerence in the length of time required to have orders illled; but if ior any reason or other it is i'ound that one must order sooner than was originally anticipated, or that perhaps ordering could be delayed for a substantial time, the slide which was originally inserted in the holder relating to that particular article can be removed and be replaced by another slide having the hole therein dierently located.

If it be desired to give a preliminary warning or signal before' the hole in a slide reaches the red disk, the disk may be provided with a tail such as lindicated at Il, proiecting lengthwise past one or two graduations in the scale with which a slide cooperates. Thus, for example, the lowermost slide in Fig. 1 must movepast two spaces in the scale before the hole registers with the red disk, but the free end of the tail Il is already exposed through the hole.

Ii the center ot the hole in the slide is spaced apart from the first graduation a distance equal to the spacings between graduations, the number which happens to be visible through the hole in the slide in any given position of the latter indicates exactly how many weeks or other time intervals must elapse before it is normally necessary to re-order. Thus, in the slide on record holder 3, the numeral 9 is visible through the hole and in the lowermost slide the number 2 registers with the hole. This means that the article of which the record is kept on holder 8 must be re-ordered in nine weeks or other time intervals while the article oi which the record is kept on holder I requires re-ordering in two weeks or time intervals. By the telltale relative positioning i'or the graduated scales and the indicating means on the several slides or, in other words, the visibility of the scale numerals through the holes l2, it is possible to ascertain at a glance whether or not the stocks of'any one of the corresponding items oi' goods is "out of step" with the rest oi' the series. More specifically. it the user makes it an established practice to keep lon hand a safe backlog of, say, eight weeks supply of all items then, under optimum conditions, the

numeral 8 should appear in the holes I2 o! all of` the slides and in such case the holes will, of course, be laterally alined for the entire series of juxtaposed or side-by-side slides. In this connection it should be observed that even when the holes I2 are thus laterally alined the projecting end s of the several slides may be radically out of alinement. This is. of course. i'or the reason that the delivery time for each of the various items usually differs from the others and, as a consequence, each oi the holes I2 is displaced a correspondingly different distance from the end of the slide. Under such circumstances or. in other words, with such diil'erence in delivery time, it is, of course, clear thatwhen the hol'es I 2 are laterally alined the ends oi' the slides will be out of alinement. So far as the ascertainment of the etlective supply on hand is concerned, it is the numeral which shows through the holesl which is really signiicant rather than the positions oi the ends of the slides.` Hence, by providing the holes, or similar indicia, as previously described, the user is saved from the false impression that he has a substantial equality of stock on hand for all items when the ends of the slides are alined. 0n the contrary, with the arrangement earlier disclosed, a glance at the series o! slides will serve to show whether or not substantially equal value numerals are showing through all of the holes I2. In the event that any one oi the slides is so positioned that its hole is substantially out of lateral alinement with the other holes in the series of slides, that gives the user an instant indication that the corresponding item is seriously overstocked or understocked. -It will thus be seen that the juxtaposition of the slides. as shown and described, is distinctly advantageous in view of the coordination of the stocking of a whole series of items through the practically instant inspection of the relative slide positions to determine the lateral alinement oi the indicia or holes I2.

While I have illustrated and described with partlcularity only a single preferred form of my invention I do not desire to be limited to the exact structural details thus illustrated and described: but intend to cover all forms and arrangements which come within the denitions oi my invention constituting the appended claims.

I claim as myinvention: 1. A combined quantity indicator and warning device for use in connection with the keeping of records of stocks of goods, comprising a stationary element and a longitudinally-movable slide mounted on said element, said element having a line oi' graduations extending along the slide for cooperation with the slide to indicate quantities of stock on hand. said element also having underneath the slide at one end of the graduations a warning mark, and said slide having therein a hole that registers with the said warning mark whenever the slide is in a position indicating that the quantity of stock has been reduced to any predetermined amount.

2. A combined quantity indicator and warning device for use in connection with the keeping oi records of stocks of goods, comprising a stationary element and a longitudinally-movable slide mounted on said element, said element having a line oi' graduations extending along the slide for cooperation with a pointer on the slide to indicate quantities of stock on hand, said element also having underneath the slide at one end oi' the graduations a warning mark, and said slide having therein a hole that registers with the said warning mark in a given position of the slide; the distance between said hole and the pointer on the slide being determined by the minimum quantity of goods that must still be in stock at the time a warning signal is desired.

3. A combined indicator and warning device for use in connection with the keeping oi records of stocks of goods, comprising a stationary element and a longitudinally-movable slide mounted on said element, said element having a line of graduations extending along the slide for cooperation with a pointer on the slide to indicate quantities o! stock on hand. said element also having underneath the slide at one end of the graduations a warning mark, and said slide havlng therein I hole that registers with the sitlv warning mark in a given position oi the slide and through which the graduations may be seen one at a time as the slide is moved. the distance between said hole and the pointer on the slide being determined by the minimum quantity ci!l soodsthatmuststillbeinstockatthetimea warning signal is desired.

4. A combined indicator and warning device for use in connection with the keeping of records ot stocks of goods, comprising a stationary element and a longitudinally-movable slide mounted on said element, said element having a line oi graduations representing time intervals extending along the slide for cooperation with the slide, a pointer on the slide for cooperation with said graduations, said element also having underneath theslideatthebeginningoithegraduationss warningmarhandsaidslidehavingthereina holethatregisterswiththesaidwarningmark whenever the pointer registers with any predetermined graduation.

5. A combined quantity indicator and warning devicetoruseinconnectionwiththekeepingof records oi' stocks of goods, comprising a stationary element and a l0ngitudinally-movable slide mounted on said element, said element having a line of graduations extending along the slide for cooperation with a pointer on the slide to indicate quantities of stock on hand in terms oi the number oi' units oi.' time required for consumption of the stock, said element also having underneath the slide near the beginning of the graduations a warning mark, and said slide having therein a hole that registers with the said warning mark whenever the slide is in a position indicating that the stock will be consumed in any predetermined number of time units; whereby, by providing a plurality of slides having holes positioned at diil'erent points therein, a warning position may be given when any desired numberv of time units must elapse before a stock of goods is exhausted.

6. The combination with a plurality of sheets for keeping stock records, of. a lengthwise-movable slide mounted on the corresponding margin 'of each sheet parallel to an edge, each of said margins having thereon a line of graduations arranged lengthwise oi' and underneath the corresponding slide, an end of each slide serving as a pointer cooperating with the adjacent graduations, each slide having therein a hole adapted to register with one after another oi said graduations as the slide is moved, each hole being spaced from the aforesaid end of its slide a distance corresponding to any desired number oi graduations which may vary for the ditlerent slides, and a warning mark on each sheet in position to be exposed through the hole in the corresponding slide when the pointer end oi' the latter registers with the graduation that is the aforesaid number of graduations from the beginning of the adjacent line oi' graduations.

'7. The combination with a plurality oi' superimposed sheets for keeping stock records disposed with their corresponding marginal portions at one side thereof in terraced relation, of lengthwise-movable slides mounted in side-by-side relation on said marginal portions oi corresponding ones of the sheets, the terraced relation of said marginal portions exposing to view the slides on the underlying sheets in the series, each of said sheets having indicia thereon including a line of graduations adjacent to and extending along the path of its slide. and each oi' said slides having'a first indicator on it adapted to register with the graduations to indicate the total supply of stock on hand and a second indicator thereon registrabie with the indicia on the corresponding sheet and located a predetermined distance from the first indicator. said predetermined distance being determined by the minimum quantity or goodsthatmuststillbeinstockatthetimea warning 818ml is desired to indicate when reordering is requisite, the lateral alinement, or lack of it. oi' said second indicators on the several side-by-side slides in the series serving to ail'ord an indication of the coordination of the eilective stocks on hand for the several corresponding items of goods.

' Y ARTHUR I. APPLETON. 

